“MIE’s numbers are significantly different from the numbers we have come up with internally,” Murray Taggart claims.
The Alliance chair has all but dismissed the MIE report’s recommendation for industry rationalisation saying it was a commercial decision best left for companies to make and not third parties.
“Alliance Group has already… rationalised plants to better match processing capacity with livestock supply.
“The company continually evaluates the performance of its plants to deliver operational efficiencies and ensure it meets the needs of shareholders and suppliers.”
Taggart believes Government intervention would be needed to implement some MIE measures for meat sector reform. “Certainly there appears a need to have some kind of legislation to support some of MIE’s options,” and the clear message we have had from the Government is this would not be available.
Taggart says it would be “commercially challenging” to achieve the outcomes the MIE report recommends.
“We have always been of the view that a commercial solution is the best answer. There is no evidence that once Government starts wading into an industry it improves it performance.”
